ROCKFORD — Garbage fees will go up, it’s just a question of by how much. Four trash collection options are in front of the City Council, which will soon approve a seven-year contract with one of two companies vying to be the city’s next garbage hauler.

Rates will climb between $2.56 and $8.96 a month, depending on which service package aldermen ultimately pick.

They need to decide whether to keep the collection process the same as it is now, where residents supply their own trash cans, or if each home is given trash and/or recycling totes that can be mechanically picked up by garbage trucks.

Residents will not be limited by the amount of trash or yard waste they can put out on the curb. Bulk items, like couches and other furniture, will also continue to be collected every week.

“Unlimited collection is the way to go,” Alderman Tim Durkee, R-1, said. “It’s a convenience but it also keeps the city clean, so old TVs aren’t just sitting out on the curb.”

The cheapest option is to keep the service as it is, without the totes.

Residents pay $15.50 a month right now for sanitation.

Advanced Disposal would offer the same services for $10.6 million a year, with the rates per customer coming out to $18.06 a month. RRES’s offer would cost residents an estimated $20.96 a month.

The most expensive option is for the vendor to provide 35-, 65- and 95-gallon totes for both recycling and garbage. The totes are large bins with wheels and lids that can be mechanically lifted, making them quicker and safer for collectors to haul.

Garbage bills with the totes would climb to $19.42 a month under Advanced Disposal’s offer or to $24.46 a month with RRES’s offer.

Under the final two options, residents would continue to supply their own trash cans but would get either totes or bins for recycling.

Advanced Disposal again had the cheaper offer for both options.

Early this year there was some doubt as to whether the city would bring the contract to bid.